By her account, Lily Storm has no village roots in the Eastern European/Western Asian region whose music she loves, yet If I Had a Key to the Dawn suggests she's native to the dozen or so lands whose repertoires she performs. Based in San Francisco and working with a band that includes accordion, wooden flute and a bevy of string instruments, Storm has gained mastery over the octave-gliding sustain, the melancholy wail, the heart-wrenching soul of those aching and largely minor-key sonic traditions. Taking a wide view of the cultural crosscurrents shaping the music, but keeping free of modern influences, Storm comfortably inhabits the often-tragic ballads of Greece, Armenia, Russia and the Ukraine with equal empathy.
